Happy New Year

We have finally made it to our destination! On Friday at 1600 the Anastasis finished a 15 day sail and arrived to East London, South Africa. I am thankful to be on solid ground especially in East London. When I joined Mercy Ships in 1999 I flew from Miami to East London to begin this so far 6 year adventure with the Anastasis.

And what an adventure with God it has been. I tend to look at June as the beginning of my year, as we transition from one phase of our mission to another, so I'm in a reflective mood right now.

A year ago we had just left a 7 month outreach in Sierra Leone and were beginning our Public Relations and Procurement Phase(from June to October) to get supplies to go back to W. Africa. I worked in our gift shop on board during this time. Our first port of call was Liverpool, England. I remember the 4th of July weekend last year traveling by car with a friend throughout Wales and taking in the beautiful country side.

After a few weeks in Liverpool, we sailed to the breath-taking Faroe Islands. These islands are full of the most hospitable people I've met this side of Africa. From the Faroe Islands we sailed to the Netherlands for shipyard and our yearly dry dock. At this point I went to the States to visit family and friends for a month. I returned in Rotterdam and then sailed to Dundee, Scotland. From there I met my parents and a friend from home to stay in a cottage on the grounds of a castle that a friend of Mercy Ships has lent for the crew to use for holidays. It was so nice to drive around Scotland and see the sites with people from home.

From Scotland we sailed to Germany, our main loading port. There we were able to load all the supplies that we procured throughout Europe. It is such a blessing to be able to take so much back to W. Africa because of the generosity of many people.

Finally in late October we made our way to Cotonou, Benin where I started my new job teaching Adult Literacy. And then in February we sailed to Liberia where I continued teaching and training teachers in adult literacy. We left Liberia on June 17th. Those 3 sentences do not do justice to what God has done over the 7+ months, if you want to read more, you can go to my archives located on the sidebar.

That takes me to now. Once again I have a new position on the ship for this phase (we always have to be flexible). I am the interim manager of the Outreach department. My main job will be contacting already established contacts for donations and overseeing the donations coming in for our department. I think it also involves a lot of little things, whatever God has in store.
We are in East London to do much needed repairs on the ship. I am just happy to be back here and look forward to meeting up with old friends made from my 6 month stay in 1999.

I will go to the States in October. I leave Cape Town on October 4th, have an overnight stay in London and then will be in Tampa October 6th.

What a great experience this past year has been; to see old friends and make many new ones, to see people come to the kingdom of God, to help the poor and needy, to be about my Father's business. I am so happy to be on this adventure with God and I know many of you reading this have been a part of this adventure. Thank you for standing by me, I am truly blessed.

I wonder what's in store for this next year????